That’s it? It’s over? After hundreds of mock drafts, months of debate, a Senior Bowl, the most recent NFL Scouting Combine, and Pro Days, the NFL Draft has come and gone in a flash. We no longer have to speculate. Six new Philadelphia Eagles joined the team during the three-day, seven-round selection meeting known as the NFL Draft.
Philly traded the 18th and 101st-overall selections for A.J. Brown. They selected Jordan Davis, Cam Jurgens, Nakobe Dean, Kyron Johnson, and Grant Calcaterra. They’ve since added several promising undrafted free agents. Then, there’s the fallout that came from that trade that shipped off Carson Wentz, one in which Philly landed a 2021 third-round choice and a conditional selection that wound up being a third-round selection.
The Eagles have and will continue to benefit from the Carson Wentz trade for two more years.
It seems like it’s been forever since Philadelphia traded Carson Wentz now, but we’ve all been paying attention.
We’ve wondered what the Eagles might get for the first-round draft choice they landed once their former QB1 racked up enough on-field time to ensure that the conditional draft choice they earned by dealing him would land in the desired round. In the end, that pick (16) was packaged, along with the 19th, into another trade, one with the New Orleans Saints that involved eight choices total.
Eagles vice president/general manager Howie Roseman has long seen draft choices as bargaining chips. This year, Philly packaged their first choice, the 15th-overall, along with picks 124, 162, and 166. They shipped them off to the Houston Texans for the 13th choice.
With it, they landed Jordan Davis. The 18th choice was packaged along with the 101st to acquire A.J. Brown in a trade. Might we argue that the Eagles landed the best wide receiver available during the NFL Draft?
That could be seen as a coup of sorts already, but the news gets even better the more time you spend thinking. The Eagles are still benefitting from their decision to trade Carson Wentz.
Allowing the Wentz Wagon to sputter out of town eventually netted the Eagles the 16th-overall selection in Round 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft. By trading it away, they now own an additional first-rounder in 2023 and an additional second-rounder in 2024.
Say what you want about Howie. We criticize him a lot. Often, he deserves it, but he was masterful during the most recent draft, and the Eagles’ roster looks much better now than it did a week ago.
The reconstruction continues. It hasn’t been perfect, but the picture is coming into focus. There’s a slight buzz that’s building in football’s most passionate fan base, and we can’t wait to see what occurs next.